‘Armenian PM not ready for concessions in Karabakh conflict settlement’

There will be very active struggle for power in Armenia, Russian public figure, political analyst, director general of the Institute for Political Studies Sergey Markov told Trend Sept. 4.

“In these circumstances, opponents of Nikol Pashinyan accuse the prime minister of being ready to make significant concessions on the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” Markov, who is also member of the State Duma of the fifth convocation and member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, said.

“But I think Pashinyan is not quite ready for this concessions," he added. “On the contrary, he is interested in "patriotic euphoria". So, his supporters may organize provocations in the form of local clashes to allow the prime minister to demonstrate "firmness" and "stiffness" of his position in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.”

“Pashinyan has already started to toughen the negotiating positions when he stated that the illegal regime created in Nagorno-Karabakh region must take part in the negotiations on the conflict settlement,” Markov said.

"Therefore, I think that due to domestic political reasons it is not worth expecting the Armenian leadership to make significant compromises and concessions,” he said. “It seems improbable to me. So, I am not optimistic about that."

“I was optimistic earlier,” he said. "The negotiations were very successful 1.5-2 years ago. By the end of 2016 the families of internally displaced people could return to their lands. But it did not happen. The last steps in this issue have not been made. I know that for certain."

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.